Date of Award

12-2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Discipline

Education Leadership

Abstract

The challenge of ensuring educational equality is formidable (United States Department of Education, 2020). The quest to ensure equal educational opportunities and experiences for students who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) has lasted for decades. The late Congressman John Lewis in 2016 stated “I fought too long and too hard against discrimination based on race and color, not to fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity” (Skiles, 2016, p. 1). Many school leaders have a genuine interest in ensuring the school environment is safe, secure and conducive to learning for all students however, many studies reveal a school leader’s self-efficacy is challenged when working with students who identify as LGBTQ. Studies reveal the lack of resources and training as being the main reason leaders shy away from interacting with LGBTQ youth (Bishop, Russell, & Ioverno, 2019).

This qualitative phenomenological descriptive study set out to provide current and future educational leaders with basic tools to use while interacting with LGBTQ students. The study was guided by one central and supporting questions that aligned with five of the seven Keys for Social Justice Leadership Theory. The overarching question for this study was: What are the beliefs, values, experiences, and perceptions of principals and counselors who work with youth who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer/Questioning? The study consisted of principals, assistant principals, and counselors who all participated in an interview containing a series of questions about their experience of working with students who are LGBTQ. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and data gathered from each participant was analyzed in which five main themes and eight subthemes emerged. Experiences and Learning, Relationships, Acceptance, Welcoming, Self-reflection and Training were the main themes that emerged from the research. The results from this study revealed several ideas that will support educational leaders while working with LGBTQ youth. One suggestion was that leaders need time to reflect and interact with other professionals about successful practices in education, to get ideas for leading the staff and students at their campuses. Because the field of education is consistently changing, the need for more studies to address specific areas of concerns, such as a teacher’s experience in working with LGBTQ youth while in the classroom are greatly needed. More importantly derived from the literature and this study is the need to have educational leaders who have a heart to lead and nurture all students for positive change.

Committee Chair/Advisor

Pamela T. Barber-Freeman

Committee Member

Patricia Hoffman-Miller

Committee Member

Arthur Petterway

Committee Member

Charlotte Davis

Publisher

Prairie View A&M University

Rights

© 2021 Prairie View A & M University

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Date of Digitization

9/17/2024

Contributing Institution

John B Coleman Library

City of Publication

Prairie View

MIME Type

Application/PDF

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